Survival
by notreallymyname
Summary: Really just a test but if folks like it I may be persuaded to actually do more than run a spell check.


AN: this is just a test...

- o -

Albus David Wilfric Brian Dumbledore, heaved a long bitter sigh of weariness as he settled into the chair behind his desk and took a sip of exquisite tasting mead then settled the tumbler on his desk and took in his surroundings. his office was a complete mess and he doubted very much that he would be able to salvage much of what young Harry had destroyed after his very riotous tantrum. he had instructed the house elves not to clean or repair anything since it had happened as a sort of reminder that what he did affected others and that sometimes no matter what he did he couldn't save everyone.

He was indeed responsible for the boys abysmal childhood and ultimately his godfathers death at the hands of Bellatrix lestrange his cousin as well as a myriad of other things that he was not proud of in the least but he had done it all in order to help safe guard the world as best he could. for all of his titles and the prestigious airs he held about his person he was but one man fighting against the tide in a world that seemed to be too apathetic to its own plight to do more than he had.

The world didn't deserve a boy... no, man such as Harry potter. but need him it did even if they didn't realize just how much they truley did. for years he had gone around and around to no avail and his options were truly becoming more and more limited. he took another sip of the mead draining the cup then in a fit of rage stood and threw it with all his might at the fire place and watched with seething anger as it shattered into exceedingly tiny crystal shards wich twinkled in the fire light.

Fawks crooned softly on his perch and eventually the ancient headmaster settled back into his chair and took out a new tumbler and refilled it. his gaze settled on his charred and blackened hand the discoloration extending beyond the hem of his robes to mid forearm and moved slowly but inexorably upwards. it would take time for the curse to reach his heart ultimately killing him but both Severus and poppy agreed that it would be no more than a year before he was incapacitated to the point of becoming immobile and shortly after that dead.

in short he was almost out of time and truly he could see no way forward but what he had devised ten long years ago and found unacceptable. now, a decade later he came face to face with the fact that there was indeed no other way. he would speak with the boy after his birthday which would be spent with friends and what was to him his first real family since his own had died when he was but 15 month old.

he would have to tell that boy that not only was he the chosen one and that his destiny was to destroy Voldemort but that his task was impossible unless he were to make the ultimate sacrifice. and that he would have to do so no later than the winter solstice. the ritual would use every ounce of magic he, the boy and Fawks could muster but in the end Voldemort and every marked death eater including Severus who had been urging for this option from the begining could summon.

if they were to wait for the following summer solstice albus wasnt sure he would be around to lend his not inconsiderable strength to the ritual thus severely limiting their options and limiting the number of innocence required to make a sacrifice to end the dark lord and all who followed him.

- o -

harry had always been incredibly self reliant and was indeed very intelligent even if it want geared towards mor scholastic activities much to he best female friends discontent. from the age of 6 when he had been turned out in the night because his relatives decided that even the cupboard under the stairs was too good for him during the summer months he had learned to forage in the nearby forest for what he needed to survive and had even begun to thrive because of it.

during the day when he had caught up all of his chores he would sit in the library and devour everything he could find on survival skills then put them into practice at night and in the evenings. he could make fire catch game and with the aid of an old curtain and some rope devised a serviceable bivouac in the way of a hammock to sleep in up in the trees.

his biggest rush had been the day he had successfully created a bow and a dozen arrows with wich to hunt with when he was eight and had been able to hunt some of the sparse bigger game found in the forest. it had also been one of his most bitter memories as the dear he had killed had been too big for him to eat before it went bad wasting all of that good food.

after that he learned how to preserve excess meat in the form of smoked jerky as salt was just to expensive and pickling too resources he didnt have. when he turned 11 and found out he was a wizard his live had been turned up side down but as with everything else in his life he had rolled with it and used magi c to find ways to further his goal of being able to subsist on his own without the aid of his family.

on of those ways was to secret about himself tools for hunting and surviving in the wilds and how to creat them from base materials with precision. he could now make any primitive weapon known to him with the use ow a little wandless magic and runes inscribed in the wood of said weapons making them truly powerful. he had learned to conjure fire wandlessly as well and ways to hide th light and smoke so as not to alert anyone to his presence.

he had taken to using the forbidden forest a testing ground for all of this and kept it a secret from his friends and enemies alike because even with all they had shared over the years he still harbored deep in his soul that he could depend on no one but himself when it came right down to it. especially now that the headmaster had told him of his ultimate fate which as to battle th e most terrible dark lord in british history and kill him or die in the attempt or everyone he cared for would perish.

it was the day before he would be derived by the headmaster to the Burrow for the remainder of the summer and he decided to spend that time in his home in th forest. he stalked his old camp site obliterating all trace of his past here for reasons he could name knowing that he would never see it again. he toured the deep woods taking in the sights, sounds and smells pulling them deeply into himself in anticipation of the time ahead.

- o -

Katniss Everdeen stepped into the open glade an arrow knocked on her string he movements silent a she investigated a brilliant flash of light and an ethereal scream of pain and anguish which had emanated from this direction. she was deep in the forest that surrounded district 12 and moving steadily away from her home. it was further than she had ever been before but she had wanted so badly to find a deer to take back home and share with her family selling the excess to the market gaining much needed supplies for her mother and her little sister.

the wished Gale were here to assist her but he had come of age and begun working in the mines a week ago so her closest friend was not able to join her in the hunt any longer. for a long time she had thought she might eventually be with him but both of them would never voice such things until they had both passed the age of selection in the reaping to do so would be both futile and a waste.

it was a hard life in district 12 and its people were of necessity een harder of they wouldnt survive and one learned from an early age that until you were of age you did not emotionally invest too much of yourself in another thereby opening yourself to pain beyond imagination when you lost them. of course coming of age didnt change that at any moment you could die horribly in the mines or in some other catastrophe but it meant that your chances were slightly better than those who were eligible for the annual hunger games.

the smell of smoke hit her and she was snapped from her musings as she saw a charred circle in the dead grass and something pale and streaked with ash at its center. stepping forward cautiously she realized it was the naked form of a man, no boy, of about her age with messy black hair. looking around herself wary of a trap of some sort she cautiously approached him and nudged the silent form with he foot and backing off hurriedly.

when he didn't react to her she moved close once more and reaching out grasped his shoulder and turned him on his back startling a gasp of surprise from herself when his body unfolded arms spreading out and legs unfurling. he was thin but not emaciated and well muscled but wiry, his skin was covered in a motley collection of scars and old wounds and his hands when she looked at them were calloused evidence of a hard worker. she couldnt help but notice that he was mature enough to be called a man in every sense of the word and from what she could tell he was quite impressive for his or any other boys size but quickly tried to quell those thoughts as she had done so many times before when she had seen gale naked of without a shirt after a lazy after noon dip i one of the creeks and rivers of the forest on hot days.

the boys eyes fluttered open after a moment revealing the most brilliant emerald eyes she had ever seen in he life before rolling back into his head and they closed as he emitted a deeply pained sigh. frowning Katniss was unsure what to do with him but sh knew she couldnt just leave him here without doing something no matter how hard and cold she tried to be she just could leave him to the elements to die.

making up her mind she set about making a litter and using stout saplings and using her coat as and some rope lashed him to them and began treking back towards district 12 and more familiar territory.


End file.
